Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
An Introduction to the Books by Dr. Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was born in Wales. He was a dairyman's assistant, a political enthusiast, debator, and the chief clinical assistant to Sir Thomas Harder, the King of England's Physician. But at the age of 27 he gave up a most promising medical career to become a preacher...
When a spiritual history of the 20th century comes to be written it will be bound to include mention not only of the far-reaching influence of Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones' ministry at Westminister Chapel in London, England from 1938-1068, but of the remarkable fact that his published volumes of expository sermons have had a circulation unprecedented for such material in the 20th century.
Since the 1970s his books have sold in the millions of copies. All over the world in the most diverse situations are to be found millions of Christian men and women who owe an incalculable debt to his ministry and books. Myself being one of them, the Holy Spirit has used his books to shine the light of God's truth in my heart.
The following are some responses of people who have also been enlightened by the books of Dr. Lloyd-Jones, followed by a list of reviews of some of his works:
A young Irishman of Roman Catholic background in Dublin wrote, "Your series on Romans was an absolute revelation to me. ... I have often asked myself the question, 'What did I know before I read your books?' The answer I gave myself: 'I don't think I knew anything at all.'"
A lady from Georgia: "I am filled with thanksgiving that I have found your books. ... May you cast a shadow throughout the world."
An American tourist on a cruise in the Black Sea discovered Lloyd-Jones' Studies in the Sermon on the Mount in the ship's library and was so impressed that on returning home bought 14 copies to give to his fellow church elders. He later wrote: "The response in our church has been quite remarkable."
A missionary in the Dominican Republic wrote to MLJ: "Very few authors get to me like you do. ... I want you to know that many people here are being blessed by your books as I teach what I learn from them in the Spanish language."
A psychiatrist in Toronto, witnessing the help which many had received by the book Spiritual Depression and the Romans series wrote to MLJ: "I felt that it was time for me to sincerely express my gratitude both on my own behalf and of many of my patients who have been brought from a dreadful state of emotional disturbance and even catastrophe back to real health and happiness."
Another writes: "Before I was saved I never read anything but comics; I had no interest in learning. Since I got saved I cannot learn enough ... of the Bible that is. At a time when I was in a fog what to believe, your printed sermons brought light and certainty to my soul." With much untruth and error in the world he added, "Don't leave us to the wolves, publish more of your works on Romans, Ephesians, and on other parts of the Bible."
From Texas: "God so opened up His sovereign grace to me through reading your books." A college student in Georgia: "You have opened my eyes to many of the great doctrines of Scripture."
A member of the Jehovah's Witnesses for 18 years wrote after an illness, which was followed by depression: "My doctor gave me a copy of Romans 3:20-4:25. It has lit a fire that has spread far and wide. I sat down one evening to read a few pages and arose a changed man. In your writings you stressed the true state of man before God and I saw myself for what I was. Over the next few months a great change came over me. We have been disfellowshipped from the JWs, but are now free and feel everyday the work of grace within us. I can never express and joy and peace we feel."
Faith on Trial: Studies in Psalm 73
Why do the godly suffer? Why do the ungodly seem to prosper? MLJ says in his preface to Faith on Trial that King David in the Old Testament, while writing the 73rd Psalm, dealt with this very problem which has often perplexed and discouraged God's people.
The Psalmist relates his own experience, exposes his soul to our gaze in a most dramatic manner, and leads us step by step from near-despair to final triumph and assurance. It is at the same time a grand theodicy. For these reasons it has always appealed to preachers and spiritual guides and counsellors.
The preparation and preaching of the sermons contained in this book was to its author a labour of love and true joy. The sermon entitled "nevertheless" in this series was used of God to bring immediate relief and great joy to a man who was in a great agony of soul and near breaking point. He had travelled some 6,000 miles and had reached London only the previous day. He was convinced, and still is, that God in His infinite grace had brought him that distance to hear that sermon.
May it and the others prove to be "a door of hope" to many another whose feet are "almost gone" and whose steps have "well nigh slipped".
This is an excellent book for those struggling or wondering about why the godly suffer and the ungodly prosper.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
Dr. MLJ here offers a detailed and comprehensive exposition of one of the best known but most frequently misunderstood passages of Scripture. As Wilber M. Smith, a professor of English Bible at the Fuller Theological Seminary has said about the importance of these studies, "I have been reading material on the Sermon on the Mount for the last thirty years, and even though I know, and have often said, that Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones is the greatest expositor of the Word of God in any pulpit in the English world today, I was not prepared for what unfolded before me in these pages. My opinion, after spending hours in this literature, is that we have in (these volumes) the most heart-searching of all expositions of the Sermon on the Mount to be published in the twentieth century."
His thoughts are echoed by Donald F. Ackland, an editor with the Baptist Sunday School Board: "Martyn Lloyd-Jones was a heart specialist before he relinquished his practice to become a preacher; but as a preacher he still deals with the heart, employing methods as penetrating and drastic as any surgeon. His interpretations of the Sermon on the Mount are severe in their analysis of human depravity and Christian weakness and inconsistency; and they represent a new puritanism in their demand for exalted levels of Christian living." It is this reviewer's belief that they present an emphasis which all Christians need in these days of compromise and superficiality.
Sermons on Romans (Chapters 1-12)
12 Volumes
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' exposition of Romans occupied him from 1955 until 1968. Throughout these years no other event in the calendar of evangelicals was comparable to Friday nights at Westminister Chapel when about 1000 people would gather to hear expository preaching at its best.
No New Testament epistle is more fundamental to the Christian faith than Romans. Doctrine and practical application are intertwined in the book.
In the expository series, Lloyd-Jones unfolds Paul's analyses of the spiritual sickness of the human heart, its deceitfulness and rebellion against God. The preacher moves step-by-step through the massive reasoning of the Apostle Paul on atonement and justification and is shown how every chapter and verse fits into the theme of God's complete plan of salvation.
For example, on his sermons on Romans chapter nine, Lloyd-Jones expands the sovereign will of God and His purposes in history in a way that is eloquent, thorough, and enlightening. A young Spanish man from Argentina learned English after reading a sermon of MLJs in his mother tongue, so that he would be able to read the complete series. When his English improved, he read the volumes and wrote to MLJ: "The last days I have been reading Romans 8 and was thinking how it is possible that a sermon given in 1960 can change a life in 1979? But it is possible and I thank God for it."
These sermons can change your life today, too. Anyone that can read and grasp these stimulating, thought-provoking, and life-changing sermons will be on the narrow road to being a well-grounded Christian. I encourage you ... "take and eat".
Sermons on Ephesians
8 Volumes
MLJ began his exposition of Ephesians on Sunday mornings in the fall of 1954. MLJ wrote, "The Epistle to the Ephesians is the most 'mystical' of Paul's epistles." Nowhere does his inspired mind soar to greater heights. There is no greater privilege in life than to be called on to expound on what Thomas Carlyle called such "infinities and immensities".
He exalts God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and keeps reminding us that God's great salvation is foremost in His plan and activity. We can never know too much concerning the great doctrines of the faith. However, if that knowledge does not lead us to an ever deeper experience of the love of Christ, it departs seriously from the apostolic pattern.
These sermons are filled with doctrine and practical application and still breathe out a freshness as though preached yesterday. They are guaranteed to stimulate readers to exalt God and live to their Christian potential.
Sermons on II Peter
Dr. Lloyd-Jones preached these 25 sermons on II Peter in 1947 and few saw their far-reaching significance. J. I. Packer, a renowned theologian in his own right, was one of MLJ's young hearers at this time and has said about these sermons: "I had never heard such preaching and was electrified. All that I know about preaching, I can honestly saw I learned from 'The Doctor'. I have never heard another preacher with so much of God about him."
